We finally had an exciting flight. Our flight from Istanbul to Thessaloniki had a thirty minute layover in Athens which, needless to say, was not enough time to get through passport check. It would have been had the Athens patrol not sent us back out into the regular airport area after passport control instead of connecting us directly with a gate. So, as a result, we had to go through security again. Then, boots in hand, we took off running to our gate and luckily, our second flight was delayed! So, after much ado, we landed in Thessaloniki, Greece. I am sure many of you have not ever heard of Thessaloniki and if it makes you feel better, the taxi driver even said to us, “You chose to have your vacation HERE?” Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece and is near North Macedonia (I am sure that helps!). For folks who read the Bible, Paul wrote a letter to the Thessolonians in the New Testament. It’s that Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki had several ruins to see and a great waterfront walk which was a very busy place on a Sunday. I think perhaps Paul might need to write another letter because I saw a lot more drinking than I did church going on Sunday! We spent Monday seeing more ruins and an endless amount of monuments. We have named the monuments “man on stick”, “man on stump” and “head on stick”. We have figured out that to become a man (or in one case a woman) that is worthy of a stick or a stump, you must be one of four things: brave, stupid, lucky or a really good bullshitter. That’s it. Or possibly really rich in which case you might be high on a stick but no one really knows who you are. After our tour of sticks and stumps, we hopped on the train and headed to the city of Kalambaka. Kalambaka is the base town to visit Meteora. Meteora is a holy place that has monasteries built on top of huge cliffs. You may recognize Meteora from the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” which put Meteora on the tourist map. The first monks built the monasteries on the cliffs to be closer to God. They started by carrying the rocks on their backs and building ladders to get up the sheer cliffs. Then, a few hundred years later, they figured out a pulley system to hoist the rocks to the top. One monk spent twenty years hauling rocks and finally had enough to build a small chapel. Then, he died. That would really stink. And he didn’t even make stick or stump level. We took a private tour and our guide explained why all the Orthodox churches look the same. All the frescos were made the same to tell the people how to get into heaven. People could not read so frescos were the way they taught people lessons. Therefore, every church tells the same stories so they all look alike. Mystery solved. As we made our way to the monasteries, I had to be sure my knees and shoulders were covered. And pants did not count. Even in pants, I had to wrap a scarf around my waist like a skirt. Bill could wear pants without a skirt but not me. Those sinful knees were evidently too much to take even in pants! Our tour guide explained that the monks did not want to have sinful thoughts because then they would have to go to confession more often. Seriously? You dedicate your entire life to being a monk and your day is so busy you can’t tack on an additional confession so that Sally doesn’t have to look stupid in pants with a skirt wrapped around her? I wanted to point out that God had not given Adam and Eve a closet full of clothes when he created them but I kept my mouth shut for a change. The views from the cliffs were amazing and the hundreds of stairs we climbed were well worth the effort. By the end of the day, our tour guide had convinced us that every word in the English language was created by the Greeks. I am thinking that somewhere in the future, our guide will be a man on a stick….he was quite the bullshitter! We leave tomorrow for Athens and Aegina where we will see a lot more ruins and shards and pots. Until the next blog….cover those sinful knees! Ratings for Thessaloniki and Meteora: Overall: 8 Points of interest: 8.5 Ease of communication: 8 Ease of transportation: 7 Friendly people: 8 Food: 7 Cost of living: 7 Weather: 10 Bill’s favorite thing: Monasteries (amazed at how they built them 600 years ago) Sally’s favorite thing: Monasteries Bill’s turn again: Hey guys, im back and more cantankerous than ever.. This blurb is called ….lines. So we are all used to begin in lines to do certain things. Checkout of a store, ride a ride at an amusement park, or anything Disney. But im going to start with something that happens to me in the states in stores and finish here in Europe. Whenever i go into a store in the states (or the islands), mostly grocery, since that is where i do most of my shopping, after a few minutes i usually have identified a store nemesis. This is the person that is in your way, and doing something stupid no matter where you turn or go in the store.. Generally in the middle of the aisle talking on their damn phone instead of getting their business done..Sometimes you have to take drastic measures, like moving their cart out of the way or bumping it.. Or stopping in front of them as subtle hints.. Generally doenst work but it makes me feel better. And you can bet you will run into them in the checkout lines, especially at the automated machines in walmart, backing up the entire process. So lets move to Europe, especially the Italians. They have decided that in every major historical museum or monument, that they want everyone going thru in a line.. Not single file, but kind of a mob mass all moving in the same direction.. Now this may work in some instances but in the Uffizi in florence, the Doges palace and St Marks Basilica in Venice, and the Vatican museums in Rome, this theory absolutely sucks. These places are so big that one can easily spread out from the herd and enjoy what you want to see in a calm unrushed time frame. I grew up in Atlanta and spent many days at 6 Flags when i was young, and as soon as the gate opened, my friends and i would run like hell to the back of the park where no one was yet.. Same theory. But NO, the Italians think its more fun to herd you thru these amazing places and treasures in a moving mass making it almost impossible to stop and enjoy what you want to, or move along to other stuff if the current area doesnt capture your attention. The absolute worst was the Vatican Museum. The individual halls in the museum were approx 30’ wide and 200’ feet long with the pieces along the walls. In the halls would be nothing but people 8-10 wide and from end to end, butt to balls. Even if you wanted to see something it was almost impossible to stop.. Then you had the tour groups. From 10-30 people with earpieces on so they could hear their leaders. They would mass in the halls and stop and then they were almost impossible to get around.. This whole experience was miserable..You would think the vatican had enough cash to not have to herd everyone thru like wildebeasts, but obviously not.. So we had a couple of tour groups that became our nemesis in the Vatican museums, and we finally got past them when we emerged into fresh air and had enough room to escape.. Last note on this, the Sistine Chapel is the highlight of the vatican museum. No pics allowed and there were so many people inside as to be totally impossible for me to enjoy.. The painting are amazing but the environment was horrid.. Glad I did the vatican, but i would not do it again.. Next time : things that run on tracks!!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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